


Hanging Tree

by Mutant_Thyla



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men: First Class (2011) RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Erik Has Feelings, Erik is not a Happy Bunny, Hurt Charles, M/M, Poor Charles, Sad Erik, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 12:02:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9725276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mutant_Thyla/pseuds/Mutant_Thyla
Summary: Song fic/Angsty fix-it. Scene from cuba! How it could have gone.*WARNING-CHARACTER DEATH!*(I tried my hand at something angsty. I couldn't end it angsty though... I'm sorry. Inspired by Nightcore version of The Hanging Tree!)





	

Charles looked up as the Missiles launched. Aimed for the beach. The humans only attempt to destroy mutants. Erik froze them. Anger, determination, and an air of smugness surrounded him as he turned to look at Charles. He turned and flicked his wrist sending them flying back at the humans. Charles felt everything slow, the air around him rippling around him. He turned towards Erik and began to run, his movements slow.

 

_~Are you, are you_   
_Coming to the tree?~_

 

He drew closer now, glancing at the missiles still flying towards the ships. Their trails fading out. Erik had started to turn now as Charles tackled him, time speeding up for a moment. Collapsed on the ground atop Erik Charles felt it slow again, Erik's fist edging towards Charles face, he moved back. Avoiding the blow and reaching out again for the helmet.

  
_~They strung up a man_   
_They say who murdered three~_

 

Erik rolled them, avoiding the metal that littered the beach around them. Arm pulled back aiming at Charles.

"I don't want to hurt you!" He growled in frustration.Charles tensed as one of Eriks hands pinned him down, the other hitting him in the face. Then he stood and resumed his assault on the ships.

  
_~Strange things did happen here_   
_no stranger would it be~_

 

Charles felt the blood before he saw it. It wasn't coming from his nose, the part of his face Erik had hit, but slipped down his cheek and onto the ground. An ache blooming in his chest. He felt himself grow cold. Ice forming on his gloves.

  
_~If we met at midnight_   
_In the hanging tree~_

 

Charles felt his power grow. He was in danger and instinct was claiming his heart. He got to his knees, then his feet before rushing at Erik once again.

 

_~Are you, are you_   
_Coming to the tree~_

 

He felt pain in his side before the sound of a gun going off was heard. The bullet tearing straight through his suit, his ribs, and burying itself in his lung. He wheezed out a groan of pain before holding onto his side.

 

_~Where dead man called out_   
_For his love to flee~_

 

Voices were shouting, explosions could be heard, but no pain could be felt from any minds on the ships. Charles opened eyes he hadn't known closed and peered up at a pale blue sky. It was a lovely day. Good for swimming, running, family. Charles smiled. He turned his eyes to the two people beside him.

 

_~Strange things did happen here_   
_no stranger would it be~_

 

 

 

Erik was crying, Raven was sobbing, and Charles could only wonder why. He opened his mouth to comfort them, but could only let out a wet cough that splattered blood across Eriks chest. Charles felt it then, the blood leaking from his mouth, from his chest. There was no pain, only a strange tingling.

 

  
_~If we met at midnight_   
_In the hanging tree~_

 

Charles opened his mouth to breath, but found he couldn't. Pressure began to build in his chest. He was dying. There was nothing anyone could do to stop it either. He would either die from bloodloss or from suffocation on said blood. He'd drawn the short stick it seemed. He closed his eyes. Erik was wrong. Peace would be the only option in the end.

 

_~Are you, are you_   
_Coming to the tree~_

 

Slowly his eyes opened again, a high ringing had claimed his hearing, but he could tell the Raven was shouting, Erik was trying to get her to stop. But she wasn't. She was frantic. Charles reached up and set one of his hands on her cheek silencing her.

  
_~Where I told you to run_   
_So we'd both be free~_

 

He opened his mouth and took a small faint breath, lungs no longer full of the blood that now seeped into the sand.

"Raven." He smiled. "Mutant and proud." Charles sighed softly, a cough bubbling up from his throat. She was stricken. Surprise and agony wrapped in one.

  
_~Strange things did happen here_   
_no stranger would it be~_

 

His hand was taken and grasped by Erik who looked horrible. clean tracks cut through the dirt on his face from tears. Charles let out a weak chuckle and smile.

"Peace is always an option for those who seek it Erik. Never forget that. As long as there are those who love you there is always a path for peace."Charles stated, his smile and voice fading. Slowly he closed his eyes and gasped slightly, air getting harder to draw in.

  
_~If we met at midnight_   
_In the hanging tree~_

 

"Charles please." A whisper that Charles barely heard, caused him to open his eyes slightly. Erik was only inches away from Charles face now. Tears dripping onto his own cheeks. The gap was closed as Erik placed a gentle kiss to Charles lips. Charles smiled gently as Erik pressed their foreheads together.

 

_~Are you, are you_   
_Coming to the tree~_

 

_Charles eyes turned to the endless grey held within Erik's eyes and saw. Everything that was, is, and could've been. A family, a life shared together. A life Charles longed to live._

 

_~Where I told you to run_   
_So we'd both be free~_

 

Erik began to hum softly to Charles. A lullaby, one his mother used to sing. "Guten Abend, gut' Nacht, Mit Rosen bedacht,  
Mit näglein besteckt, schlupf unter die Deck, Morgen früh, wenn Gott will, wirst geweckt." He sang rocking Charles gently.

 

  
_~Strange things did happen here_   
_no stranger would it be~_

 

"Guten Abend, gut' Nacht, Von Englein bewacht, Die zeigen im Traum, dir Christkindleins baum, Schlaf' nun selig und süß, schau' im Traum S Paradies." Erik sang Charles felt groggy. Sleepy almost, but he knew that if he slept now, he wouldn't wake up. He closed his eyes and focused on breathing as best as possible.

  
_~If we met at midnight_   
_In the hanging tree~_

 

Charles was so focused that he hadn't felt Erik lift him into the air. He was cradled close, protectively, by Erik who had begun to speak. The vibration from his chest helping Charles stay awake. He hummed back softly.

 

_~Are you, are you_   
_Coming to the tree~_

 

Things began to blur together as he was carried about, then the smell of sulfur hit his nose and he gagged slightly coughing more blood onto Eriks chest.

  
_~Wear a necklace of hope_   
_Side by side with me~_

 

Charles distantly smelled chemicals and overall 'clean' smells. A hospital, that's where they were. But he couldn't stay awake. His mind began to drift.

 

  
_~Strange things did happen here_   
_no stranger would it be~_

 

Charles body was taken away by nurses and doctors, to the er's surgery room. They worked for hours keeping him alive, keeping him from bleeding more. They stitched up the damage, removing the bullet and gluing his lung back together.

 

  
_~If we met at midnight_   
_In the hanging tree~_

 

He was given his own room, a tube to simulate feeding and breathing. He was comatose. Only his body lived. Mind lost in the shadows.

 

_~Are you, are you_   
_Coming to the tree~_

 

He'd been kept on life support for three months now. With zero signs of waking. No brain activity, a faulty heart. The doctors only keeping him alive because of Raven and Erik.

  
_~Where dead man called out_   
_For his love to flee~_

 

He had flat-lined again. Raven had given up. She pulled the plug and Erik wasn't happy about it. His heart still forcing him to hope. But still, he didn't wake. Erik felt that now there was no way Charles would come back to them, to him. He'd left the hospital with a dark heavy heart.

 

_~Strange things did happen here_   
_no stranger would it be~_

 

The call they got was surprising. Something none of them had ever heard of. The coroner had walked in to find Charles, alive and awake wrapped in the body sheet shivering on a metal table. He had awoken after four days of death. four days of his body working out the drugs that had been put into his system. He was alive, shaken, but alive and everyone was grateful.

 

_~If we met at midnight_   
_In the hanging tree~_

 

He'd returned home to be greeted with warm hugs, kisses and family. It was his dream. His own personal heaven. Erik made sure to keep him out of harms way, they'd started their school for mutants, so many had jumped to attend, and Charles was surrounded by family and friends. Children, teenagers and adults alike.  
  


They had found their peace at last.

**Author's Note:**

> The song erik sings to Charles Translated.  
> Title: Brahm's Lullaby
> 
> (English)
> 
> Lullaby and good night. With roses bedight,  
> With lilies o'er spread is baby's wee bed.  
> Lay thee down now and rest. May thy slumber be blest.
> 
> Lullaby and goodnight, thy mother's delight.  
> Bright angels beside my darling abide.  
> They will guard thee at rest. Thou shalt wake on my breast.
> 
> (German)
> 
> Guten Abend, gut' Nacht, Mit Rosen bedacht,  
> Mit näglein besteckt, schlupf unter die Deck,  
> Morgen früh, wenn Gott will, wirst geweckt. 
> 
>  
> 
> Guten Abend, gut' Nacht, Von Englein bewacht,  
> Die zeigen im Traum, dir Christkindleins baum,  
> Schlaf' nun selig und süß, schau' im Traum S Paradies.


End file.
